EasyYou should know the basics, how to increase and decrease, and have made at least one project.

IntermediateYou should have worked with a few stitch patterns and should be familiar with basic garment shaping.

AdvancedYou should have made several garments in various stitch patterns and should be comfortable making minor changes to patterns. Advanced is fun and challenging for thinking knitters.

Leslye SolomonHaving taught at STITCHES events for more than 20 years and at a variety of knitting seminars from England to Alaska, Leslye Solomon is an enthusiastic, energetic, and empathetic teacher with extensive knitwear training.

Leslye owns Woolstock Yarn Shop in Glyndon, Maryland. She shares her experience and knowledge in instructional videos, DVDs and books. Subjects covered include sweater finishing, making socks using double points and a single circular needle, techniques in buttonholes and bands, a wonderful method of continental knitting, bead knitting, and machine knitting, including a book entitled The Uncomplicated Knitting Machine. Leslye has also created KnitSpeaker, an iPhone, iPad, iPod timed-audio pattern-repeating app for knitters.

A class with Leslye is an experience that will arm students with valuable knowledge. Their only concern is whether they will remember it all!

Thursday 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm212-3 Easy Sweater FinishingDo you feel that sinking sense of uncertainty when you are faced with completing your sweaters? Do you pay someone else to do something you should be able to accomplish like a pro? Do you look for sweaters knit in the round just to avoid the finishing process? Learn tips to help you love finishing as much as you love knitting. Learn how blocking can help you get the results you want. Practice creating invisible shoulder and side seams. See an amazing way to graft ribbing. Watch the two methods of sewing set-in or drop-shoulder sleeves. Learn how to pick up neck stitches by knowing exactly where to insert the needle and where to avoid. Learn what to do with all those yarn tails to safely make them disappear. Learn important crochet edges every knitter should know.

Friday 8:00 am - 11:00 amSOLD OUT538-3 Easy Switch to Continental Style KnittingIt doesn't matter how old you were when you learned to knit or if you are left or right handed, Leslye has a proven technique that will help you quickly and easily change your style to knit faster and more ergonomically and create a more even fabric. As a result of this easy-to-learn technique, students begin to fly through and love ribbing and seed stitch. Besides becoming more productive through speed, the quality of the knit fabric will improve and become more even. Enjoy renewed knitting confidence as you will find yourself attempting more complicated stitch projects.

Saturday 8:00 am - 11:00 am331-3 Easy Design Your Dream Sweater (Part 1)This is an easy-to-understand class on basic pattern writing enabling you to pursue your ideas. You might have a pattern, but want to make a neck or sleeve change. You can easily learn how to make the successful change for exactly what you envision. Learn the secrets to understanding your gauge, the sample fabric of your project, beyond what is generally known. You will actually be able to predict how your sweater will change after it is knit, and with this knowledge, your project will be more accurately made to exactly what you want eliminating stretch or shrinking. Learn specific body points to measure and how much ease to add using advanced, gauge information. Accomplish all this by hands-on practice in class of the mapping out of every stitch and row of a set-in-sleeve garment using a large knitters' grid provided by Leslye. Understand the secrets to shaping armholes, how they start, how much to decrease, and how long to make them by using a chart provided. See how easy it is to shape any kind of neck to either create your own design or change an existing pattern. Learn how to measure certain parts of your arm to be able to write a pattern for the sleeves for any length and easy-to-design, beautifully shaped sleeve cap to fit in that armhole you chose. Let's turn you into a sweater designer.

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Sunday 8:30 am - 11:30 am383-3 Intermediate Design Your Dream Sweater (Part 2)Once you have completed Design Your Dream Sweater Part 1 to create the basic set-in sleeve sweater, continue adding to your knowledge of sweater designing beyond the basics. In this class, reinforce what you have learned by practicing the easy-to-learn tricks to mapping every stitch and row of two versions of a sleeve cap that will fit into your armhole. Learn how to create a fitted look by shaping from the hips to the waist. Be able to map an asymmetrical bottom edge. With the knowledge of shaping the round and V neck, youâ€™ll be surprised how easy it is to design a lapel or shawl collar. Gain confidence in choosing colors, and mixing various fibers together creating your own fabric design. We will discuss planning knit and purl or color-pattern repeats, and how to plan a sculptural Aran-style sweaters, intarsia designs, and plaids. This information-packed class will inspire you to add interesting variations to your evolving list of knitting talents.Note: Must have attend Design Your Dream Sweater Part 1.